Soiling - notes from workshops

more information on toileting skills
information on enuresis
information on encopresis

POTTY TRAINING

Definition:

"… is the phrase commonly used to describe the steps parents take in helping children to develop bowel and bladder control (a physical achievement) and teaching them where to put faeces and urine (a social skill.)" (Herbert, 1996)

General developmental sequence:

Stage 1 – bowel control at night

Stage 2 – bowel control during the day

Stage 3 – bladder control during the day

Stage 4 – bladder control at night

	may vary for individual children
	some achieve bowel and bladder control simultaneously

girls tend to be quicker than boys in becoming continent

NORMS

	varies between cultures
	varies within our own culture
	depends on parental expectations

Soiling

	most children have achieved bowel control (day & night) by the age of 3½ - 4 yrs.
	minimum age for judging whether there is a problem in bowel control (encopresis) is 4 yrs.

Wetting

	at the age of 5-7 years, 2-4% of children wet during the day at least once a week, approximately 8% are wet at least monthly.
	no age at which children cease to bed wet, but gradual decrease in the number of children who wet the bed; from every child at birth, to 1 or 2 in every 100 children at age 15.
	realistic minimum age for judging whether there is a problem in bladder control (‘diurnal’ or ‘nocturnal enuresis’) is 5 yrs.

(Herbert, 1996)

more information on toileting skills
information on enuresis
information on encopresis

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